


Once Upon a Starlit Night

by Celosia



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Cake batter, F/M, Fantasy, Music, Stardust - Freeform, Stars, Tumblr Prompt, also what i like to call, aphrarepairweek2019, inspired by the movie Stardust, maple tea - Freeform, night sky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 11:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19172269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celosia/pseuds/Celosia
Summary: One night Oliver sees a shooting star fall to earth on the other side of The Wall. Crossing over, he finds himself in a magical land that he had only heard of in stories, and soon has to face the consequences of his actions.





	Once Upon a Starlit Night

When Oliver was a child, his mother used to always tell him stories about a hidden kingdom that was filled with magic and fairies and witches and sky pirates. And where the stars would come down to dance among the people.

 

_ For the stars love music, you see, _ his mother had said,  _ and when they danced, that was when they were at their happiest. That was when they would share their magic with the people.  _ His mother would then frown.  _ But then the people began to get greedy and wanted to take the stars' magic for themselves. So the stars kept themselves in the sky to keep an eye on mankind, vowing to never return to earth until mankind changed.  _ It was then that she would lean forward and whisper in his ear,  _ But sometimes if you sing or play music to them, they'll dance across the sky. _

 

And every day since the first time that his mother had told him that story, Oliver would sneak out onto the roof and sing to the stars, hoping to see them dance like in the story or that he’d be able to meet one of them. His mother eventually taught him the piano and violin, teaching him all of her favorite songs that she loved to listen to.

 

However, the day that his mother died, he stopped making music, and he stopped believing that the stories that she had told him had been true. After all, if it hadn’t happened after so many years, then how could he believe that it wasn’t anything but a fairy tale?

 

Everything changed on Oliver’s eighteenth birthday.

 

“Oliver, I’ve got a present for you,” Jacques, his long-time neighbor, said as he held out an elongated box. He wore the same bored expression as he always did, but that didn’t deter Oliver from putting on a cheerful face as he came around the counter of the bakery.

 

“Really, now? You didn’t have to!” he exclaimed, wiping his hands off on the towel in his hands as he stared at the box.

 

Jacques’s next words caused him to raise an eyebrow, followed by a pang of disappointment. “I didn’t.” He seemed to shift uncomfortably, and Oliver soon found out why, his cheerful smile faltering. “It’s from your mother. She apparently gave this to my dad a long time ago and told him to keep it safe for you until your eighteenth birthday, for whatever reason it could’ve been. I don’t know, and I don’t really care. Just take it.”

 

The words stung, but Oliver chose to ignore it in favor of taking the box and setting it on the counter. Hesitantly opening the lid, he froze at the sight of his mother’s old violin. In the box, there were also sheets of music and a letter with his name on the envelope in his mother’s handwriting. “Ahh-- Thank you! Don’t forget to thank your father for me too,” Oliver said, forcing a smile back onto his face as he turned to Jacques.

 

The blonde merely rolled his eyes and walked off with a wave of his hand. “Yeah, whatever.”

 

Swallowing back the lump in his throat, Oliver gently closed the lid of case, setting it off to the side in the back of the bakery.  _ Why would she wait until now to have it find its way to me? _ The idea of playing any sort of music again haunted him, when all it did was remind him of his mother and how she had ended up dying on his birthday eight years ago to the day.

 

Throughout the rest of his shift, his gaze kept drifting to the violin case, debating with himself on what he should even do with it. That’s how he eventually found himself standing out in one of the meadows at the edge of town once the sun had set, staring up at the night sky and all of the stars with the violin in his hand.

 

“Mother… If you’re out there somewhere… If you can hear me… I don’t know why you decided this. Why you decided to give me the violin. Why you wanted to wait until I was eighteen until I could have it. I read your letter, but it all feels like  _ nonsense _ . It’s all just talking about fairytales and stars and-- and  _ make-believe _ children’s tales. I loved those stories when I was little, but how can I believe in magic when you were the magic in my life? Without you…” Oliver shook his head, wiping the tears welling up in his eyes with the back of his hand. “Look at me, getting all blubbery. But anyways, I know it’s my birthday...but I wanted to be able to play a song for you, if that’s alright? I know you would insist that I don’t have to, but…” He trailed off, sniffling as he brought the violin to his shoulder.

 

At first, the notes were wavering and unsteady, slightly out of tune at times, but eventually, Oliver found himself relaxing into the music, into the feel of the instrument and the way the strings seemed to hum against his fingers. All of the memories of practicing when he was a boy began coming back, and the music was beautiful, soaring melodies that bared his soul and emotions to the world. It wasn’t until he had looked up and seen one of the stars falling across the sky, followed by a crash in the nearby forest, that Oliver stopped playing.

 

_ One of the stars fell out of the sky _ … _ That shouldn’t be possible! _

 

But all of his mother’s stories were fresh in his mind, and Oliver quickly returned his violin to its case and secured the strap over his shoulder as he jogged off towards The Wall.

 

The Wall was, well, a wall. A wall with a single hole in it that was guarded by a grumpy old man to keep people from crossing over it. From everything that he had seen of the other side of The Wall, there was just a normal looking field and a normal looking forest. Oliver had never seen any reason as to why people weren’t allowed to go on the other side, and right now with the mission on his mind, he wasn’t going to let the man stop him.

 

Which was why, despite the physical strain, Oliver climbed over the top of the wall himself. It made for a bit of a rough landing, but he only stopped to make sure the violin was unscathed before continuing off across the field and into the woods. It was only when he had been wandering around for nearly thirty minutes that he realized that it had been foolish of him to simply run off without any kind of supplies or lantern to help guide his way. On top of not telling anyone where he would be going…

 

He was just about to turn to despair when a light caught the corner of his eye through the trees. Creeping forward through the trees, Oliver’s eyes widened when he caught sight of the crater that filled the area. And at the very center of it was a young girl laying on the ground.

 

Throwing caution to the wind, Oliver hurried down the slope and came to a stop next to the maiden. She wore a silver dress that glimmered and gleamed like the starlight above, and her hair tumbled past her shoulders in long golden locks.

 

_ She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen _ …

 

“M-Miss?” Oliver said, resting a hand on her shoulder and gently shaking her to rouse her from her slumber. The outdoors was no place for a lady to be sleeping, after all. “Miss? Wake up. Are you alright?”

 

Eventually a light groan fell from her lips and her eyelids fluttered open to reveal the most stunning violet eyes that Oliver had seen. He hadn’t even known that eyes could be that shade of purple, or even purple at all!

 

“Where--” She struggled to sit up, Oliver wrapping his arm around the back of her shoulders and helping to lift her into a sitting position. “Where am I? I heard music playing…”

 

Blue and pink eyes looked over her with concern. “Are you alright?” he repeated, hesitant to move away in case she fell over. She felt warm against him. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

 

“I don’t think so. My head hurts from falling, but I think that I’ll be okay,” she murmured gently, glancing up at him. “Do I know you? Your voice sounds...familiar.”

 

At that, Oliver raised an eyebrow. “No, I don’t believe so, dearie. I’d have remembered if I had met someone as beautiful as you before.” The compliment had made her blush, but Oliver wasn’t focusing on that right now. “Did you fall down the crater and hit your head? What were you doing out so late?”

 

She tilted her head slightly, looking confused. “No, I didn’t fall down the crater. I fell out of the sky, of course. I heard someone playing really beautiful music and I tried to get closer to hear it, but then I ended up falling because I got too close.”

 

Now, Oliver was growing concerned.  _ Perhaps she hit her head a little too hard when she fell, if she’s making up such stories like this. _ A smaller part of him at the back of his brain nagged at him that that wasn’t the case. Either way, he couldn’t just leave a lost maiden out in the middle of the woods to fend for herself. There was no telling what kinds of creatures were lurking out there, not to mention uncouth bandits that wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of such a lovely lady.  _ No, I have to do something to help her. _

 

“It’s alright, love; I’ll take you home and get you all patched up,” he murmured, gently smoothing his free hand over her silky locks before lifting her up. She gasped, wrapping her arms around his neck at the sudden loss of the ground beneath her. Oliver whispered a quiet apology as he started walking, almost stumbling a few times on his attempt to get out of the crater. Somehow he had managed it, despite the girl’s protests that she would be able to walk just fine.

 

“What’s your name?” she asked suddenly, nearly making Oliver trip over a protruding root as he was trying to navigate his way back towards the town.

 

He could’ve sworn that he'd already introduced himself, but maybe he had forgotten to because of how distracted he had been. “My name’s Oliver, but my friends call me Ollie. And what may I call you?”

 

“I’m Madeline, but my sisters call me Maddie,” she murmured, her fingers playing with the ends of Oliver’s hair. It made him want to shiver.

 

“Madeline… That’s a beautiful name,” Oliver responded, being rewarded with a blush from the girl, from  _ Maddie _ .

 

“I still think that I know you from somewhere,” Madeline continued, her violet gaze shimmering as she stared up at him. It was almost like he could see pinpoints of starlight radiating in her eyes if he looked close enough and long enough.

 

It took far more concentration than he would’ve liked to keep his gaze in front of him and to not keep staring into her eyes. It made his cheeks burn with embarrassment. “I’m not sure how you could’ve…” Oliver mumbled, ducking his head beneath one of the lower hanging branches.

 

“You have a violin with you,” Madeline murmured, raising one of her eyebrows as she tapped the case lightly. “I heard violin music playing before I fell. It had to have been you… The music was beautiful…” A frown pulled at her lips and her gaze became distant. “It sounded really...sad too though. As if you were mourning a loved one. Did something happen?”

 

The question startled Oliver as he stepped into the open field, The Wall just in sight. A smile spread onto his face, a little too wide, a little too pinched at the edges, as he shifted her more comfortably in his arms. “No, no, of course not. Why would anything have happened?”

 

Madeline’s eyes were sad as she looked up at him. “Ollie…” The way she said his name made his heart leap in his chest.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“...You should really learn how to smile a little more naturally.”

 

Her words stopped him in his tracks, his blood feeling like ice in his veins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, love.”

 

She placed a hand on his cheek, turning his head to face her. “I can feel that you’re in pain… You don’t have to hide how you’re feeling--”

 

“ _ Oliver Kirkland! Where the Hell have you been and how did you get over that wall!? _ ” The voice boomed from the distance, making Oliver flinch and internally groan.

 

_ Of course, Alaric was bound to find out I had crossed over somehow… Probably because I stopped playing the music… Maybe he saw the star fall too and-- _ Then he mentally slapped himself.  _ I didn’t even get to find the star that had ended up falling… _

 

Still, Oliver squared his shoulders as he approached the crumbling hole in The Wall, Alaric’s broad figure glaring menacingly down at the young man. His long hair, which was white with age, fell past his shoulders and Oliver had always thought that it had given him the impression of being an old war god. That was when his gaze drifted to Madeline who merely stared serenely back at him.

 

“Oliver… What are you doing on That Side of The Wall?” Alaric murmured slowly, climbing up the crumbling bricks with an agility that belied his age.

 

“Uhh-- I had been out playing my mother’s violin and I ended up seeing a star fall into those woods, and so I thought that I would go find it and bring it back to show Jacques? But then when I was looking for it, I found this maiden at the bottom of a crater. Her name’s Madeline, and she said that she had ended up falling, so I figured I would bring her home to make sure that her head is alright…” Oliver trailed off as Alaric began to shake his head in exasperation.

 

“ _ Boy _ , you don’t know what you just did, do you? There’s a reason why people aren’t supposed to cross over this wall…” Before Oliver could react or move away, Alaric had suddenly grabbed a handful of Madeline’s hair and cut it, climbing back over the crumbling bricks. “You don’t even know what you just found…” Slowly, Alaric pulled his hand back through the hole, and Oliver watched with wide eyes as Madeline’s hair twisted and crumbled into nothing more than a handful of-- “Stardust. You wanted to find your fallen star? Well, you have her right there in your arms, and if you bring her over to this side, she will die.”

 

It felt as though Oliver had taken several heavy blows to his gut.  _ Madeline was the star? So all of Mother’s stories… All of them were true. All this time… And I made Madeline fall, and I’m putting her in harm’s way, and I can’t bring her back home with me, otherwise she’ll die and crumble into nothing but stardust… _

 

A heavy hand pressed itself against Oliver’s shoulder and he looked up to see Alaric standing in front of him again. His voice was gentler when he spoke this time. “You have a hard decision to make, boy. One that I wish you never had to make, which is  _ why _ I guard this wall at all times to make sure accidents like this don’t happen again…”

 

Oliver’s voice was thick as he looked back down at Madeline in his arms. “What decision?” he asked, though in his heart, Oliver already knew the answer that he would be given.

 

“You bring her over the wall and let her turn into dust; you leave her to fend for herself and never return to the other side of the wall again; or…” Alaric paused, seeming to hesitate before sighing, “you stay on that side of the wall with her and never return to town again.”

 

Cool fingers found their way to Oliver’s cheek, causing his gaze to meet Madeline’s. A small smile was on her lips, as though she had already accepted whatever fate would be bestowed on her, and that felt like a stab in his heart to know that she so completely trusted him. His gaze lifted helplessly to Alaric. “What about all of the things at the house? What about Jacques--”

 

“You know Jacques has never felt the same for you, and I’ve never understood why you’ve tried to do so much for a boy that has never once given you the same courtesy or done anything for you in return…” Alaric shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. It felt like another stab, because Oliver knew that he was right. “As for all of your things… Should you decide to stay there, I could arrange to have the necessities brought to you.”

 

“I--” Oliver bit his lip, holding Madeline closer to him.

 

“Ollie… You don’t have to stay…”

 

He blinked in surprise, looking down at the star in his arms.  _ A fallen star… _ “W-What are you talking about?”

 

Shaking her head, Madeline hopped down out of his arms, the silvery dress swirling around her. And not for the first time that night, Oliver was reminded of how beautiful she was. “If your heart belongs with your home, then you should stay there. You don’t need to worry yourself about me, Ollie.” She rested her hands on top of Oliver’s. “I’ll always be listening for your music, no matter how far apart we are.”

 

“Maddie…” His eyes widened as she stepped back, gathering up her dress and bolting towards the forest. “ _ Madeline! _ ” Oliver stretched out his hand towards her as if that would be able to stop her from running away.  _ Was it something that I said?  _ He felt cold. Turning back to Alaric, his eyes were pleading.

 

“What’s your choice, Oliver?”

 

Oliver’s feet were already moving before Alaric had finished the question. He may have been exhausted from trekking the distance twice already, but fear was a big motivator as he ran, calling out Madeline’s name in desperation. A slew of worries ran through his mind, the same as when he first found her. Why would she end up running away like that? How could he ever make a decision to leave her?

 

“Ollie?”

 

His head jerked around toward the sound of Madeline’s voice, seeing her standing against a nearby tree. Her eyes were wide with surprise and she didn’t make a move as Oliver jogged over to her, panting and out of breath when he wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t ever run off like that again. You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

 

“What are you doing here? I don’t understand--”

 

“Oh,  _ Madeline _ , my house hasn’t been a home ever since my mother died, love… There’s nothing for me to go back to there besides things that bring me nothing but grief and people in that town that do nothing but pity me for growing up without a mother from such a young age.”

 

“B-But-- But what about--”

 

Oliver placed his hands on Madeline’s cheeks. “Jacques was somebody that I had cared about because he was the only person that I thought cared about me. But Alaric was right… Nothing I had ever done or ever could do, would ever make Jacques feel about me the same way that I... _ thought _ that I felt for him.” A heavy blush rose to his cheeks as he gently stroked the skin of Madeline’s cheeks, loving the way that her skin felt against his.

 

A heavy blush spread across Madeline’s skin as well. Oliver could feel the heat of it under his hands. “Thought?”

 

“Because my heart is already right where it belongs… I’m not going to be going anywhere, and I’m not going to be leaving your side for a very long time. You may have fallen out of the sky for me, but my heart fell for you the moment that I saw you.” Oliver nodded, his thumb brushing across Madeline’s lips. “May I?”

 

Swallowing, Madeline’s eyes widened as she nodded, already leaning into Oliver. “ _ Yes. _ ”

 

Their lips collided in a blaze of passion, arms twining around each other as they held onto each other with the desperation that came from nearly losing the other. When they pulled away from the kiss, both were breathless, leaning their foreheads together and gently caressing one another.

 

“You would give up your old life, just for me…” Madeline murmured, her eyes watering slightly.

 

Oliver placed a chaste kiss to her forehead as he pulled her closer against him, propping his chin on top of her head and looking up at the starlit sky. He held her as if she were the most precious thing in his life. “My mother used to tell me stories of a land where stars used to come to Earth and dance with the people and how much the stars loved music… So every night before she died, I used to sing or play music in the hopes that I would get to meet one of the stars from Mother’s stories…”

 

A small smile pulled at Madeline’s lips. “So it  _ was _ you after all. I knew I was right. I had wondered why you had stopped…”

 

Sinking down to sit beneath the tree, Oliver pulled Madeline close to him, her back pressed firmly against his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair. “I stopped the day that she died… Music didn’t feel like it had any meaning after that, and so I became an apprentice to a baker when I was old enough… But then, tonight… I was given my mother’s old violin that she used to have before she died. She had left it as a present for my eighteenth birthday, apparently, and so… I had decided to play her favorite song for her…”

 

“You must miss her terribly…” Madeline murmured, linking her fingers with Oliver’s and giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

 

“I do,” Oliver whispered, feeling tears threatening to well up in his eyes for the second time that night. “I’ve always loved music, and while I’m a good baker, music is everything to me… It reminds me of my mother...and it brought _ us _ together.”

 

A silence settled between the two before Madeline spoke up. “Then why don’t we travel the land and bring music to the people?”

 

Oliver blinked in surprise, staring down at Madeline. “Are you sure about that, love? Wouldn’t you rather have a stable home or someone who’s richer or--” Lips pressing against his cut him off, and he all but melted into the kiss and the hands that found their way into his hair.

 

“ _ Ollie _ , my home is wherever you are, and as long as I get to spend every night in your arms, there’s no other place that I would rather be.” When she smiled, she seemed to glow with starlight. “You already came back for me. Why would I want or choose anything else?”

 

A heavy weight seemed to lift itself from his shoulders as he set the violin case up against the tree. Laying down in the grass, Oliver pulled Madeline down next to him. Those words were just what he needed to hear. “I don’t know. But I know I wouldn’t choose any differently…” he murmured, pressing his lips against Madeline’s.

 

And they fell asleep like that, limbs entwined and entangled, exchanging kisses beneath the starlit sky. What the new day would bring, neither of them knew, but they knew that they would face it together.


End file.
